


Le Soleil Se Levera

by orphan_account



Series: Vampire AU-Second Storyline [2]
Category: Figure Skating RPF
Genre: Alternate Universe - Vampire, Angst, Everybody needs a Stéphane Lambiel in their lives, Gen, Implied/Referenced Character Death, Panic Attack
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-03-19
Updated: 2020-03-19
Packaged: 2021-03-01 04:01:07
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,630
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23218930
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: There's always some comfort in the difficult times.
Relationships: Stéphane Lambiel & Shoma Uno
Series: Vampire AU-Second Storyline [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1895323
Comments: 4
Kudos: 9





	Le Soleil Se Levera

**Author's Note:**

> Sequel to 'La Nuit de l'Angoisse'. The title translates as 'the sun will rise'.  
> Stay strong and healthy everyone.

Shoma was sitting on the floor in his room, knees drew to the chest. His phone was tossed to the side, with a webpage still displaying on the screen. It’s the official news from the human government of Japan, confirming his friends and colleagues’ fate.

Of course, he had expected it since the day he received Satoko’s badly-written message. After six months of trying to contact her to no avail, he should have known this. Everyone in this little chalet knew this, but they never said it.

Shoma thought he would be able to face it when it became a confirmed message, but it still came as a shock to him. He used to keep the last bit of hope within him, hoping that his colleagues in Japan were just hiding somewhere and couldn’t reply to his messages for safety reasons. 

He saw the news during a ‘tea break’. Of course, everyone in Champéry weren’t following an office-type working hours; but whenever Deniss baked something, they’ll have an extended break to just wind down, drink tea and have some sweets. Unless there’s an immediate emergency, they wouldn’t talk about current affairs. Sometimes Deniss and Stéphane could get into a lengthy discussion about arts, and Shoma would doze off there, accompanied by the foreign words-French, or Italian, basically those terms that he didn’t understand.

Just as Stéphane was commenting on Deniss’s new recipe, Shoma was playing a game with Koshiro. A notification suddenly appeared on the top of the screen, and he immediately stopped the game to open the Japanese news app.

Of course Koshiro noticed it. He leaned in to peak at Shoma’s phone, and immediately grabbed Shoma’s wrist upon reading the title. Shoma’s hands were shaking. No. That wasn’t something unexpected, but it definitely was something that he didn’t want to see.

Shoma continued to read the article, not realizing that Stéphane had noticed both of them and had stopped discussing the amount of sugar that Deniss should use.

“Shoma?” Stéphane asked softly, “Shoma? What happened?”

Shoma dropped his phone onto his laps and buried his face in both palms. He needed sometime to process this.

“The human officials confirmed what happened six months ago…” Koshiro said, hesitantly and slowly, “They say that some people…are no longer with us.”

Shoma could felt his heart pumping, and Koshiro’s voice became so distant that he could only barely hear it. He could identify Stéphane’s voice, but he didn’t know what he was saying. Finally he had gathered some strength back, and he stood up from the couch. 

“Sorry, I…I think I need some time.” He said, not looking at anyone and of course missed everybody’s worried face, “I…”He ran upstairs to his little bedroom, and shut himself in. He didn’t draw the curtain open this morning, and his room was almost completely dark, save his phone screen. He didn’t know how to process everything.

Someone was knocking on his door. Shoma glanced at his phone, it’s half an hour after the start of their tea break. He didn’t answer the door immediately, which might be impolite, but he need to collect himself first, regardless of who’s there. Not even Koshiro.

The person didn’t just push the door open, not even trying the door handle. They just waited there, and knocked again after a minute or so.

Shoma took a deep breath and stood up to turn the handle. Stéphane was standing there, not just straight at the door, but more like one step from the door. Shoma kind of appreciated the distance.

Stéphane smiled, a very delicate expression. “How are you doing?” He asked softly.

“I’m…” Shoma didn’t manage to say ‘alright’. He felt his tears bursting out as soon as he met Stéphane’s brown eyes, making him unable to pronounce any word.

Stéphane stepped towards him, and encircled the young werewolf with his arms. Shoma knew his tears would probably end up on Stéphane’s T-shirt, but he chose not to worry about it. He felt his knees giving away, but Stéphane’s support was firm and almost powerful. He felt the other man gently patting his upper back, somehow hypnotic but surprisingly calming.

“Shoma, shoma.” Stéphane repeated his name, “We’re here.”

Shoma didn’t know how long he cried for, but as he finally managed to reduce it to a quiet sob, he felt an immense headache. He squirmed in the embrace, trying to get away, but Stéphane didn’t simply release him. 

“Come, mon cher,” Stéphane said, “just take your time.” He still had an arm on Shoma’s waist to support him, walking him towards the bed.

Shoma’s bedroom is extremely simple, just like everybody else in the house. There was a closet, a rug, a small nightstand, and a bed. But at least the bed is comfortable. He just let Stéphane guide him, feeling both of them sitting down at the edge of his bed, and Stéphane gently bringing him down, placing his head on the other man’s laps.

Stéphane magically get some tissue paper to wipe away the young werewolf’s tears and massaging his scalp, without pushing for anything.

“Stéphane?” Shoma finally said, his Japanese accent still there, “what do I do now?”

Stéphane placed a palm on Shoma’s eyes, which were devoid of the usual brightness. The warmth was somehow comforting, especially now his eyes were sore from crying.

“Shoma. I’m happy to discuss anything, but you don’t have to come to a decision now.” He said, “Koshiro is now trying to verify that message-you know, in the best possible situation, it can just be a trap to get you back to Japan.”

Shoma sighed. “But you know…It couldn’t be.”

Stéphane paused for a while. “Well, to be honest, I know we’re all prepared for the worst.”

“I felt…I shouldn’t just be crying here.” Shoma murmured, “I felt there’s more important and urgent things to do, but I don’t know what to do now.”

Stéphane took the young man’s hand and held it. It was firm enough that Shoma could almost felt some strength coming just from there, but not tight enough to hurt. “Shoma, all your emotions are valid. It’s normal, and a moment of grief or confusion doesn’t make you weak. It’s alright just to let it out.”

Shoma could feel his headache slowly dying away. Maybe it’s the warmth on his eyes that was helping. “Stéphane…” He said, “I’m going to establish it all over again, in the worst possible case. I’m going to.”

Stéphane nodded, and soon realized Shoma won’t be able to see it. “We’ll help as much as possible.” He said, “There’s the geographical distance, sure, but as for experiences, strategies, international contacts-the closest we have would be Wenjing in China and Yuna in Korea-we’ll give everything possible.”

Shoma sat up and crossed his legs on the bed. “How did it start here?” He asked, “I mean, I was kind of an early member there in Japan, but wasn’t the first. You know, there are always struggles back home, and we…” he made airquotes around the word, “inherited from the predecessors.” He had heard about the situations in Europe, and knew that it was almost single-handedly established by Stéphane and the younger friends in this chalet.

“It’s a very long story.” Stéphane looked straight into the young werewolf’s eyes, “Do you want a story? Or do you want the practical details?”

Shoma thought for a while. “If you don’t mind…the story.” He scratched his head, “I think, practical details will come useful later, but now everything’s so up in the air, I don’t know whether it…”He took a deep breath again. Nothing is easy, and Europe had its own bloodshed some years ago. If the transition in Japan was a gradual process, the Europeans had their world turning upside down in less than a month. It couldn’t be a pleasant story for Stéphane to tell.

“So..starting from the very beginning,” Stéphane turned to face Shoma, “There’s the Vevey Incident, a conspiracy which cost the life of one of the founding members of the Lausanne Treaty. My partner. And many others’ following that.” He just stated it plainly, but Shoma immediately regretted asking for it.

“No, don’t worry.” As if knowing what Shoma was thinking, “I’ve accepted it, and I can still feel him giving me strength at the most desperate and difficult times.” Stéphane continued before Shoma could say anything, “I know he’s there. Somewhere.”

“We went into exile across half of the continent, hid in a forest for two months until they gave up searching for us. Then, with the help from a ‘neutral’ group, we managed to settle here. That group also helped with communication to other parts of Europe in the very early days, Austria, Finland, Germany, even Liza’s St. Petersburg.” Stéphane continued, “And later, Koshiro built the whole communication system here down in the cellar, Deniss start to write anonymously on our websites and Matilda organized logistics. The beginning really wasn’t smooth, there were days when the whole team was having a bad day-or even a bad week. We hear bad news everyday and it’s hard to keep our spirits up, but thankfully we have Deniss’s sweets.” He chuckled, “You know, everything is possible. There’s always light in the end of the tunnel. Koshiro once told me there’s an equivalent saying in Japanese, what was that?”

“明けない夜はない。”Shoma said, so softly that it was almost a whisper, “There’s no night without a dawn.”

Stéphane took the young werewolf’s both hands, “We can decide what to do later, but we’ll always be by your side.”

Shoma finally looked into the half-vampire’s eyes, and nodded slowly but firmly. “I’ll do it for them. And for myself.”

**Author's Note:**

> 明けない夜はない: From Shoma's blog update following cancellation of this year's Worlds.


End file.
